Gators can spoil fun for 'David'

Column by Mike Finger

Updated 12:06 am, Monday, March 25, 2013

AUSTIN — As the best, most uproariously entertaining story of the NCAA tournament unfolded half a continent away, the Florida Gators gathered around a TV in the corner of an Erwin Center locker room and pretended to not be surprised.

Everyone else in the country could afford to let their jaws drop as the alley-ooping, swash-buckling upstarts from Florida Gulf Coast swaggered from anonymity into the Sweet 16. But the Gators, who had just drubbed Minnesota 78-64, had to at least feign familiarity.

As the 15th-seeded Eagles pulled away from San Diego State on the screen in front of him, Florida point guard Scottie Wilbekin was asked if he'd ever heard of FGCU before this week.

Fortunately for the Gators, they now merely have to beat the Eagles, and not place them on, say, the correct coast. The two programs might be based in the same state, but they reside in different college basketball worlds.

Florida operates one of the largest athletic departments in the country. FGCU didn't exist before 1997.

The Gators are making their third consecutive trip to the Sweet 16 and fifth since 2007. The Eagles attained Division I status less than two years ago.

At least they do share a little bit of history, though. Donovan told reporters after Sunday's game that he once tried to schedule the Eagles — as an exhibition opponent.

Basically, Donovan knew as much about FGCU as Athletes in Action or Marathon Oil.

That will change in the next 72 hours, though. The bulk of NCAA tournament coverage is about to become just like a Don Henley-loving hippie's eight-track tape selection — all Eagles, all the time.

And the Gators will be the hated giant everyone wants to lose.

“We know they'll have all the fans,” Wilbekin said. “Every year it's somebody.”

What might be missed in the middle of all the Gulf Coast mania is the significance of what the Gators have a chance to achieve Friday. By getting 25 points from Mike Rosario and 15 from Erik Murphy and rolling past the Golden Gophers on Sunday, Florida (28-7) pulled within one victory of reaching a third consecutive Elite Eight.

Combine that run with the back-to-back national championships the Gators won in 2006, and they've assembled the most dominant seven-season postseason stretch of the century.

“I think it just speaks to Coach and what he's done with the program,” Murphy said. “That's how he is. And then that feeds into us, and that's how we become.”

How they've become, at least in pivotal moments of NCAA tournament games, is ruthless. Sunday, they jumped out to a 22-point first-half lead against the Gophers, and when Minnesota threatened to make things interesting after halftime, the Gators coldly snuffed out such hopes with back-to-back 3-pointers from Wilbekin and Rosario.

Now all they have to do is be callous enough to spoil everyone else's fun.